For the first time in 15 years, City Hall on Monday temporarily reopened the Section 8 waitlist — giving low-income families an opportunity to apply for federal housing vouchers to rent private apartments.
Mayor Eric Adams’ administration reopened the Section 8 Housing Choice Voucher (HCV) program, which has not accepted new applications since 2009, on June 3. The federally-funded program, which the New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA) administers, is accepting new applications through 11:59 p.m. this coming Sunday, June 9.
However, the opportunity itself is no guarantee that an applicant will be put on the waitlist. The city will accept 200,000 new applicants via a lottery to add to its waitlist, according to the public housing agency. NYCHA spokesperson Barbara Brancaccio said households who are selected for the waitlist via the lottery will then be chosen at random to recieve vouchers, with the goal of issuing 1,000 vouchers a month.
Applications can be submitted via an online portal.
Competition for the 200,000 waitlist spots will likely be stiff, as over 150,000 families had already applied by early afternoon on Monday, Brancaccio said.
“After 15 years, we are reopening NYCHA’s doors to hundreds of thousands of new Section 8 applicants and helping more New Yorkers find the housing they need,” Adams said in a statement last month.
Section 8 is aimed at very low-income families that fit certain criteria, and current public housing residents. The eligibility criteria includes that the head of household be at least 18 years old or an emancipated minor; have at least one member of the family who is either a US citizen or a noncitizen with qualifying immigration status; and make at least 50% or below the Area Median Income.
Currently, the program is being utilized by 241,117 households, according to the city. NYCHA has worked to clear the waitlist since it stopped accepting new applicants in 2009, the city says, issuing vouchers to 7,538 families last year.
Deputy Mayor Maria Torres-Springer, in a statement last month, said that reopening the waitlist was part of the city’s efforts to tackle its ongoing housing affordability crisis. Just 1.4% of the city’s rental housing units were vacant in 2023, while rents have continued to rise annually.
“Making this critical subsidy available to more New Yorkers for the first time in 15 years exemplifies NYCHA’s commitment to improving the lives of tenants, fulfills one of the Mayor Adams’ 2024 State of the City priorities, and advances our administration’s larger efforts to empower working-class New Yorkers,” Torres-Springer said.
